The Work, Director Jairus McLeary

The riveting documentary THE WORK, set inside a single room in Folsom Prison, follows three men from outside as they participate in a four-day group therapy retreat with level-four convicts. Over the four days, each man in the room takes his turn at delving deep into his past. The raw and revealing process that the incarcerated men undertake exceeds the expectations of the free men, ripping them out of their comfort zones and forcing them to see themselves and the prisoners in unexpected ways. THE WORK offers a powerful and rare look past the cinder block walls, steel doors and the dehumanizing tropes in our culture to reveal a movement of change and redemption that transcends what we think of as rehabilitation. Director Jairus McLeary joins us to talk about the men, inmates and outsiders, the program and the challenges of making a film about men seeking to reclaim their lives.

For news and updates go to: theworkmovie.com

For news and doing your part to continue The Work go to: insidecircle.org

 

Download MP3 Podcast | Open Player in New Window

Starting October 27 The Work opens at the Laemmle Monica Center in Los Angeles / Santa Monica 

“A simple, tense, gritty auditing of a collective unburdening that obviously brings some needed clarity, and the promise of rehabilitation, to some hurt, searching souls.” – Robert Abele, TheWrap

In its visceral purity, the film drags male toxicity up into the light, offering it as a cure for itself. – Chuck Bowen, Slant Magazine

The Work makes gruelling viewing at times – it’s more like psychotherapy than entertainment – but, by the end, viewers will feel as if they’ve been on the same rewarding journey as the subjects. – Geoffrey McNab, Independent (UK)

“The Work chronicles a kind of breakneck psychoanalysis in which the origins of problematic behavior are dramatically expunged in public.” – Eric Kohn, IndieWire

“No filmmaker could have written a richer set of masculine archetypes as these real individuals represent, each equally totemic in his defining idiosyncrasies and in his historically male characteristics.” – Sean L. Malin, Austin Chronicle

Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold, Director Griffin Dunne

Across more than 50 years of essays, novels, screenplays, and criticism, Joan Didion has been our premier chronicler of the ebb and flow of America’s cultural and political tides with observations on her personal – and our own – upheavals, downturns, life changes, and states of mind. In the intimate, extraordinary documentary JOAN DIDION: THE CENTER WILL NOT HOLD, actor and director Griffin Dunne unearths a treasure trove of archival footage and talks at length to his “Aunt Joan” about the eras she covered and the eventful life she’s lived, including partying with Janis Joplin in a house full of L.A. rockers; hanging in a recording studio with Jim Morrison; and cooking dinner for one of Charles Manson’s women for a magazine story. Didion guides us through the sleek literati scene of New York in the 1950s and early ’60s, when she wrote for Vogue; her return to her home state of California for two turbulent decades; the writing of her seminal books, including Slouching Towards Bethlehem, Play It as It Lays, A Book of Common Prayer, and The White Album; her film scripts, including The Panic in Needle Park; her view of 1980s and ’90s political personalities; and the meeting of minds that was her long marriage to writer John Gregory Dunne. She reflects on writing about her reckoning with grief after Dunne’s death, in The Year of Magical Thinking (winner of the National Book Award for Nonfiction), and the death of their daughter Quintana Roo, in Blue Nights. With commentary from friends and collaborators including Vanessa Redgrave, Harrison Ford, Anna Wintour, David Hare, Calvin Trillin, Hilton Als, and Susanna Moore, the most crucial voice belongs to Didion, one of the most influential American writers alive today. Director Griffin Dunne (American Werewolf in London, After Hours) joins us for a conversation on “Aunt Joan” and her fiercely personal body of remarkable body of fiction and non-fiction.

To view Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold go to: netflix.com

 

Download MP3 Podcast | Open Player in New Window

“Access is almost everything for a documentary filmmaker, and the entree Griffin Dunne had to his celebrated subject makes all the difference in “Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold.” – Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times

“A documentary that’s incisive and haunting, like Didion’s best writing.” – Owen Gleiberman, Variety

“This is an intensive appreciation of perhaps the greatest living American essayist, and one of the best ever. It plays like a finely tuned authorized biography.” – Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News

International Documentary Association (IDA) Executive Director, Simon Kilmurry

International Documentary Association (IDA) is fiercely committed to protecting and defending the rights of documentary filmmakers to practice their craft, seek and reveal truth in their films, and make and sell their work freely in a fair marketplace. We strenuously uphold the principles of free speech and believe that documentary films, however provocative they may be, should never be silenced by an authority, corporation or legal system that may feel threatened by their content. Where filmmakers are under fire, and their predicament stands to set precedent for us all, the IDA brings together the weight of our community to fight for their rights in the courts, the press, congress or wherever that threat may lie. IDA is the only group advocating specifically for the documentary filmmaking community. In many ways, this makes IDA’s advocacy work the most important and relevant work we do. If documentary films better inform your world, if you believe in freedom of speech, if you are concerned that the media space grows ever smaller and cherish the diversity that independent voices bring, and if you’re a fan of David (over Goliath) then you probably share our values. Documentary storytelling expands our understanding of shared human experience, fostering an informed, compassionate, and connected world. The International Documentary Association (IDA) is dedicated to building and serving the needs of a thriving documentary culture. Through its programs, the IDA provides resources, creates community, and defends rights and freedoms for documentary artists, activists, and journalists. Executive Director Simon Kilmurry joins us to talk about IDA, the screening series currently underway and the state of documentary filmmaking in 2017.

 

Download MP3 Podcast | Open Player in New Window

For news and updates go to: documentary.org

Watch some of the year’s best film through the IDA’s documentary screening series

Support Documentary filmmaking and watch great films by becoming an IDA member

God’s Own Country, Director Francis Lee

In the compelling feature film debut of Francis Lee God’s Own Country Johnny Saxby works long hours in brutal isolation on his family’s remote farm in the north of England. He numbs the daily frustration of his lonely existence with nightly binge-drinking at the local pub and casual sex. When a handsome Romanian migrant worker arrives to take up temporary work on the family farm, Johnny suddenly finds himself having to deal with emotions he has never felt before. An intense relationship forms between the two which could change Johnny’s life forever. This growing chemistry between them results in an intense, instinctive sexual encounter. With both lads struggling to come to terms with what their time on the moor really meant and what they want from each other. With the future of the farm, his father’s life and his fledgling first relationship all hanging in the balance, Johnny feels more isolated and powerless than ever. Sent back to the farm on their own by Deirdre to tend to the animals, Johnny and Gheorghe slip into an unspoken domestic life. But soon Gheorghe’s contract will come to an end… Director Francis Lee joins us to talk about this simple story of struggling people living on the edge drawn into an emotionally complex tale.

For news and updates go to: samuelgoldwynfilms-Gods Own Country

 

Download MP3 Podcast | Open Player in New Window

Official Selection

Sundance Film Festival 2017

Berlin International Film Festival 2017

San Francisco International Film Festival

“There will be many people who see themselves in the furtive glances and mud-covered kisses from which “God’s Own Country” weaves its harsh but hopeful narrative, and they will do so while witnessing a finely crafted piece of cinema.” – Jude Dry, IndieWire

“A rigorously naturalistic drama that yields stirring performances from the collision between taciturn demeanors and roiling emotional undercurrents.” David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter

“Skipping some of the more predictable narrative obstacles we’ve come to expect from the coming-out drama, this sexy, thoughtful, hopeful film instead advances a pro-immigration subtext that couldn’t be more timely …” – Guy Lodge, Variety

“This is one of the most assured, fully-formed British debuts of recent years.” – Paul O’Callaghan, Sight and Sound

One of Us, Co-directors Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady

In their new documentary ONE OF US, acclaimed observational filmmakers Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady (JESUS CAMP, DETROPIA) take a deep and moving look at the lives of three individuals who have chosen to leave the hugely insular world of Hasidic Judaism. The film follows Etty, a mother of seven, as she decides to leave a violent marriage and divorce her husband; Ari, a teenager on the verge of manhood who is struggling with addiction and the effects of childhood abuse; and Luzer, an actor who, despite having found success in the secular world, still wrestles with his decision eight years earlier to leave the Hasidic community. Produced over three years, ONE OF US offers unique and intimate access to the lives of all three as they deal not only with questions of their beliefs but also with the consequences of leaving the only community they have ever known. With their trademark sensitivity and keen interest in the nature of faith, Ewing and Grady chronicle these journeys towards personal freedom that comes at a very high cost. Co-directors Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady join us for a conversation on their emotionally wrenching look into a world of dogmatism, ostracism and community.

Directors’ Statement – We have always been drawn to stories that put the nature/nurture debate into stark relief. Are some of us just born with an unshakable need to question the status quo, despite the consequences? The three main subjects of One of Us are jumping head first into the unknown.  Their rocky journey from insular Hasidic Brooklyn out into the secular world – with its emphasis on radical individualism – is fraught with both doubt and exhilaration. These three brave people are bucking the exacting rules of their ultra-orthodox community to experience the world for the first time as true individuals. Their journey is a profoundly human one that took us by surprise. One of Us is the most thought-provoking film we’ve ever made. We are excited to hear audiences weigh in on the vexing question of what price we’re all willing to pay to forge our own identity.

One of Us is available on Netflix

To find out more about the films of Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing go to: lokifilms.com

facebook.com/One-of-Us-Film

 

Download MP3 Podcast | Open Player in New Window

“It’s incisive in its condemnation of the oppression innate in the social structure of Brooklyn’s Hasidic communities.” – Christopher Gray, Slant Magazine

“Employing intimate, evocative aesthetics to amplify their material’s heart-wrenching power, the filmmakers craft a harrowing portrait of trauma, bravery and insular societal oppression.”Nick Schager, Variety

“Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady have made their most powerful and complex film.” – Sheri Linden, The Hollywood Reporter

The Departure, Director Lana Wilson

THE DEPARTURE, Lana Wilson’s (After Tiller) poetic and deeply moving look at a former punk-turned-Buddhist priest in Japan who has made a career out of helping suicidal people find reasons to live. One of the discoveries of the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival and featured at some of the world’s top documentary festivals, THE DEPARTURE follows a 44-year-old Tokyo native, Ittetsu Nemoto loves riding his motorcycle and dancing all night in clubs. But he’s also a Rinzai Zen priest, who lives with his wife, mother and baby son at a temple in the remote countryside of Gifu prefecture, Japan. There, over the last ten years, he has become famous for his work in combating suicide. But this work has come increasingly at the cost of his own family and health, as he refuses to draw lines between the people he counsels and himself. With astonishing access and artistry, Wilson’s camera captures Nemoto at a crossroads, when his growing self-destructive tendencies lead him to confront the same question his patients ask him: what makes life worth living? Director Lana Wilson (After Tiller) joins us for a conversation about death, love, priorities and family.

For news and updates go to: thedeparturefilm.com

 

Download MP3 Podcast | Open Player in New Window

The Departure opens in Los Angeles at Laemmle’s Monica Film Center on Friday, October 20 with other cities to follow.

“A beautiful, wise, and deeply empathetic immersion into one fascinating character’s unique approach to suicide prevention. A quietly impressive work whose images, characters, and ruminations linger on long after the lights come up.” – Scott Macaulay, Filmmaker Magazine

 “An intimate, deeply felt engagement with profound matters of life and death.” – Allan Hunter, Screen International

“Immensely moving. Lyrical and deeply meditative… digs deep into major questions without being afraid of the answers.” – Kate Erbland, Indiewire

“Incredible. A portrait of unbelievable humanity.” – Nick Allen, Nick Allen, RogerEbert.com

 “A poetic meditation on what it means to be human and what it means to be alive.” – Helen Kaplow, Indie NYC

“Nemoto’s teaching is as much about embracing life as it is about facing death.
He offers hope for all.” – Joan Oliver Duncan, Tricycle Magazine

Animation is Film, Founder Eric Beckman

GKIDS, the acclaimed producer and distributor of animation for adult and family audiences, Annecy International Animation Film Festival, the world’s leading animation Festival and Market, and Variety magazine, have announced the launch of ANIMATON IS FILM, an annual animation film festival in Los Angeles. The first edition will run October 20-22 at the TCL Chinese 6 Theater in Hollywood (Mann’s Chinese Theater) with a showcase of 20 programs including feature films in competition, special presentations, retrospectives and short film programs. ANIMATION IS FILM aims to fill a gap in the US market by establishing a world class animation festival on par with the major events in Europe and Asia – and locating it in the world capital of animated filmmaking. The Festival will be a vocal advocate  in the heart of Hollywood, for excellence in animation, and for filmmakers who push the boundaries of their art to the fullest range of expression that the medium is capable of. GKIDS and Animation is Film founder Eric Beckman stops by to talk about his love of animation and the endless possibilities for enriching and entertaining filmmaking contained in it.

For information and updates go to: animationisfilm.com

 

Download MP3 Podcast | Open Player in New Window

Dates: The festival will be the weekend of Friday, October 20 through Sunday, October 22, 2017.

Location: Films will be screened at 6801 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood, CA 90028 at the TCL Chinese 6 Theatre Multiplex on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Click here to meet the filmmakers of Animation is Film

Animation is Film Festival seeks to:

Present a highly selective, annual showcase of the best new works of animation from around the world, with programs for both adults and families.

• Champion and support filmmakers who use animation to pursue unique cinematic visions and who are unconstrained by conventional notions of what animation is capable of.

• Champion and support women filmmakers.

• Champion and support filmmakers from a wide range of cultural, economic, national and geographic backgrounds.

• Have a positive impact on Los Angeles’ diverse communities by making the Festival programs available to the widest range of audiences.

Tom of Finland, Actor Pekka Strang

This stirring biopic follows the life of the artist Touko Laaksonen (Pekka Strang), known to the world as Tom of Finland, whose proudly erotic drawings shaped the fantasies of a generation of gay men, influencing art and fashion before crossing over into the wider cultural consciousness. But who was the man behind the leather? After serving in the army in WWII, Touko returned to repressive Finnish society of the 1950s, haunted by traumatic experiences. Moving in with his affectionate but unenlightened sister Kaija (Jessica Grabowsky), he fell in love with her lodger, handsome dancer Veli (Lauri Tiklanen), who Kaija also fancied. Unable to express his feelings openly, Touko poured them into his drawings, creating his vision of the hypermasculine leatherman. Soon his art was famous under his secret pseudonym, but getting it published was a struggle that took Touko to California, where he and his art were finally embraced amid the sexual revolution of the 1970s. Tom’s story is one of love, courage and perseverance, mirroring the gay liberation movement for which his leather-clad studs served as a defiant emblem. Finland’s Official Selection for Best Foreign Language Film consideration at the 90th Academy Awards. Actor Pekka Strang joins us for a conversation on his nuanced and winning portrayal of an iconic artist and unexpected champion of equal rights for the LGBTQ community.

For news and updates go to kinolorber.com/film/Tom of Finland

facebook.com/tomoffinlandmovie

 

Download MP3 Podcast | Open Player in New Window

Tom of Finland opens on October 20, 2017 at the Landmark Nuart Theatre in Los Angeles with a Q&A with actor Pekka Strang after the Friday 7 PM screening.

For tickets and showtimes go to landmarktheatres.com/nuart

“Though not explicit per se, Tom of Finland is quite visceral; you can practically smell this movie, with many scenes reeking of cigarettes, sweat, and …” – Sherilyn Connelly, SF Weekly

“Pekka Strang does a fantastic job as Laaksonen; his playfully nuanced performance adds to the beautifully sedate way in which the story is told.” – Linda Marric, HeyUGuys

“Karukoski’s film at least honors its subject’s work in some key respects: It’s handsome, smoothly executed and eager to entertain.” – Guy Lodge, Variety

“Strang and Grabowsky deliver fantastic, in-depth performances, shaping the siblings’ personalities with sensitive resoluteness.” – Filipe Freitas, Film Threat

DINA, co-directors Antonio Santini and Dan Sickle and film subject Dina

DINA, an outspoken and eccentric 49-year-old in suburban Philadelphia, invites her fiancé Scott, a Walmart door greeter, to move in with her. Having grown up neurologically diverse in a world blind to the value of their experience, the two are head-over-heels for one another, but shacking up poses a new challenge. Getting married in a few weeks and there’s still so much to do. She has to move her boyfriend, Scott, from his parents’ house to her apartment, and settle him in to only the second home he’s ever had, all while juggling his schedule as an early morning Walmart door greeter. She has to get her dress, confirm arrangements with the venue, and make peace with her family, who remain nervous for their beloved DINA, after the death of her first husband and the string of troubled relationships that followed. Throughout it all, in the face of obstacles large and small, DINA, remains indomitable. She’s overcome tragedy and found the man she wants and is bent on building the life for herself that she believes she deserves. DINA captures the cadences and candid conversations of a relationship that reexamines the notion of love on-screen. DINA is unstoppable, a force of nature, and as the star of her own life story, she’s an unconventional movie protagonist the likes of which hasn’t been seen before. Co-directors Antonio Santini and Dan Sickle join us to talk about their empathetic, moving and enveloping documentary.

For news and updates go to: dina.film

facebook.com/TheDinaMovie

 

Download MP3 Podcast | Open Player in New Window

**Winner – Grand Jury Prize – US Documentary – 2017 Sundance Film Festival

“DINA comes from a deep place of love…Alternately comic and tragic and best when its both at once, DINA humanizes a world of people who were only dehumanized because we allowed them to be… Whereas most docs about ‘different’ people are content to flatter our empathy, DINA aims to deepen it.” – David Ehrlich, IndieWire 

“We come to understand that the camera’s distance from its subjects as an act of respect that allows the complex, funny, and indomitable personalities to shine through.” – Christopher Gray, Slant Magazine

“A sensitive snapshot of two ordinary people on the autism spectrum who are determined to carve out a meaningful future together.” – David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter

“The rapport between the filmmakers and their principal characters is so comfortable, it occasionally feels as if we are watching a scripted film.” – Peter DeBruge, Variety

Una, Director Benedict Andrews

UNA, based on David Harrower’s play ‘Blackbird’ follows a young woman’s journey to reclaim her past. Fifteen years earlier, UNA ran away with an older man, Ray, a crime for which he was arrested and imprisoned. When she comes across a photo of him in a trade magazine, UNA tracks him down and turns up at his workplace. Her abrupt arrival threatens to destroy Ray’s new life and derail her stability. Unspoken secrets and buried memories surface as Una and Ray sift through the wreckage of the past. Their confrontation raises unanswered questions and unresolved longings. It will shake them both to the core. UNA gazes into the heart of a devastating form of love and asks if redemption is possible. Bolstered by the remarkable performances of Rooney Mara and Ben Mendelson, UNA rips at the fragile facade of two irreparably damaged people forced to reconcile entangled their past. Director Benedict Andrews talks about the making of his complex, intimate and relentlessly raw tale of abuse, and unresolved emotion.

For news and updates go to: westendfilms.com/una

 

Download MP3 Podcast | Open Player in New Window

“Una is an inquiry into the complicated bond between a predator and his prey. Yet Harrower does not play monsters and victims.” Ella Taylor, NPR

“Be warned: the film — perhaps unsurprisingly — is heading somewhere pretty dark, but you can’t fail to be impressed by this cleverly constructed and brilliantly acted piece.” Matthew Bond, The Mail

“What gives Una its unnerving tension is not just the skill of these two performers locked together in their unsettling combat, but the realization that no matter what she ends up doing to him, it won’t fix what has already nearly destroyed her.” – Chris Barsanti, Pop Matters

Blood Stripe, Director Remy Auberjonois and Co-writer, Actor Kate Nowlin

Blood Stripe: A scarlet stripe that runs down the dress trousers worn by officers of the United States Marine Corps 

Our Sergeant returns home after a third tour with the Marines. Unable to sleep, wracked by paranoia and anxiety, it is clear that in addition to the scars she bears on her body, Our Sergeant carries unseen wounds. When a boisterous homecoming party provokes an explosive outburst, Our Sergeant has nowhere to turn, and so she runs… deep into the North Woods. Discovering a picturesque summer camp on a lake, Our Sergeant seeks refuge and at first, finds solace. But she cannot outrun her own heart of darkness and the pristine wilderness becomes fraught with peril. Actor (Weeds, Veep) and director and writer Remy Auberjonois joins us for a conversation on his compelling and complex portrait of a returning soldier (Kate Nowlin) on the brink. 

For news and updates go to: bloodstripefilm.com

The Blood Stripe opens at the Laemmle Music Hall Friday, October 13

 

Download MP3 Podcast | Open Player in New Window

“5 stars. One of the best movies I’ve seen in a long time. ‘Blood Stripe’ is a towering achievement.” – James McDonald, Irish Film Critic

“Veteran actor Remy Auberjonois’ polished feature debut provides an impressive showcase for co-scenarist Kate Nowlin as a career Marine derailed by PTSD upon return to civilian life.” –   Dennis Harvey, Variety

“A strong performance by Kate Nowlin as a U.S. Marine returning from her latest tour of duty in Afghanistan fuels this study of post-traumatic stress disorder, though the strength of actor Remy Auberjonois’ tense and troubling directing debut lies in its rejection of easy diagnoses.” – Justin Chang, LA Times

“Nowlin breathes life into an atypical female anti-hero, presenting a different kind of woman rarely seen on screen. Bringing both an intimidating physicality and a keen sense of fragility, her performance sells the film’s emotional authenticity and gives it a humane depth that draws us deep into her character’s haunted world. Simply put, her performance feels like lighting in a bottle.” – CromeYellow

UNREST, Director Jennifer Brea

Jennifer Brea is a Harvard PhD student soon to be engaged to the love of her life when she’s struck down by a mysterious fever that leaves her bedridden. She becomes progressively more ill, eventually losing the ability even to sit in a wheelchair, but doctors tell her it’s “all in her head.” Unable to convey the seriousness and depth of her symptoms to her doctor, Jennifer begins a video diary on her iPhone that eventually becomes the feature documentary film Unrest.  Once Jennifer is diagnosed with myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), commonly called chronic fatigue syndrome, she and her new husband, Omar, are left to grapple with how to live in the face of a lifelong illness. Refusing to accept the limitations of bedbound life, Jennifer goes on an inspiring virtual voyage around the world where she finds a hidden community of millions confined to their homes and bedrooms by ME. These patients use the internet, Skype and Facebook to connect to each other — and to offer support and understanding. Many ME patients have experienced uncertainty, confusion and even disbelief from the medical community and society as a whole. After all, it’s easy to ignore a disease when patients are too sick to leave their homes. In Unrest, Jennifer shares her pain and the most intimate moments of her life in order to offer hope and visibility to those who suffer alone in dark, silent rooms. Though Jennifer and Omar may have to accept that they will never live the life they originally dreamed about, together they find resilience, strength, and meaning in their community and each other. Director, subject and activist Jennifer Brea joins us to talk about her journey, illness and her determination to make things better for people living with ME.

For news and updates go to: unrest.film

Help raise awareness and take action, go to: unrest.film/time-for-unrest

facebook.com/unrestfilm

 

Download MP3 Podcast | Open Player in New Window

“The movie delivers a striking degree of emotional authenticity with its home footage, allowing it to become more about its central couple’s resilience than the hardships that tests their bond.” – Eric Kohn, IndieWire

“It powerfully insists on giving a voice to victims whose greatest challenge, apart from their symptoms, is surmounting a world of indifference.” – Daniel M. Gold, New York Times

“It’s a film that’s remarkably intimate, deeply edifying and a stirring call to action.” – Katie Walsh, Los Angeles Times

“Brea shot much of the film on her iPhone, which often gives it the tone of a found-footage horror film. Making it all the more horrifying is the fact that not only is it real, but it’s while Brea is unable to stand up or often even move beyond crawling.” – SF Weekly

I Am Another You, Director Nanfu Wang

When Chinese filmmaker Nanfu Wang (Hooligan Sparrow) first came to America, Florida seemed like an exotic frontier full of theme parks, prehistoric swamp creatures, and sunburned denizens. As she travels wide-eyed from one city to another, she eventually encounters a charismatic young drifter named Dylan. Fascinated by his rejection of society’s rules and unsure of his past, Nanfu follows Dylan with her camera on a journey that spans years, takes her across America, and explores the meaning of freedom. But as Nanfu delves deeper into Dylan’s world, she discovers something that calls her entire worldview into question. Director, Producer, Cinematographer & Editor Nanfu Wang is an award-winning filmmaker based in New York City. Her feature debut Hooligan Sparrow was shortlisted for the 2017 Academy Award for best documentary feature. Since its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival 2016, Hooligan Sparrow has screened at more than 100 festivals in over 25 countries including Hot Docs, Sheffield, Full Frame, and Human Rights Watch Film Fest. It opened theatrically across North America and was later released on POV, Netflix, Amazon, and iTunes. It has won over twenty awards internationally including a Cinema Eye Honor for the Best Debut Film, the George Polk Award for the journalistic achievement, and the Truer than Fiction Award at the Independent Spirit Awards. Wang was honored by the International Documentary Association with the 2016 Emerging Filmmaker Award. Director Nanfu Wang joins us to talk about Dylan, freedom, travel and her own experience on the streets.

For news and updates go to: iamanotheryoufilm.com

facebook.com/iamanotheryoufilm

 

Download MP3 Podcast | Open Player in New Window

Opens in Los Angeles October 6, 2017 at Laemmle Monica Film Center 1332 2nd St. Santa Monica, CA 90401

100% on Rotten Tomatoes

Awards:

Winner: SXSW LUNA Chicken & Egg Award for Best Documentary Feature directed by a woman

Winner: SXSW Special Jury Award for Excellence in Documentary Storytelling 

“Cinematic Poetry” – The Hollywood Reporter
“Intimate…eye opening” – Screen International

An excellent, intuitive study of American wanderlust. – Alan Scherstuhl, Village Voice

“‘I Am Another You’ poses tricky questions about the relationship between filmmaker and subject, and maybe between filmmaker and audience.” – Ben Kenigsberg

“What begins as a celebration of reckless freedom, then turns into a revelation of a broken soul, becomes something deeper …” – Owen Gleiberman, Variety

Bobbi Jene, Director Elvira Lind

After a decade of stardom in Israel, American dancer Bobbi Jene decides to leave behind her prominent position at the world-famous Batsheva Dance Company, as well as the love of her life, to return to the U.S. to create her own boundary breaking art. Tracking the personal and professional challenges that await her, Elvira Lind’s film lovingly and intimately documents the dilemmas and inevitable consequences of ambition. BOBBI JENE delves into what it takes for a woman to gain her own independence in the extremely competitive world of dance and to find self-fulfillment in the process.

Bobbi Jene: Born in Centerville, Iowa. From 2005-2014 she was a member of the Batsheva Dance Company under the artistic direction of Ohad Naharin. She is an alumnus of the Juilliard School, North Carolina School of the Arts, and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School. Her choreography and solo work has been presented by The Batsheva Dance Company, PS122 COIL Festival, The Israel Museum, and the Luminato Festival. Bobbi is a certified GAGA teacher and has taught Ohad Naharin’s repertory in schools and universities around the world.

Director Elvira Lind: Elvira Lind graduated from City Varsity – School of Media and Creative Arts in Cape Town, South Africa in 2006 majoring in documentary film. She has worked within that field since directing and shooting documentaries of various lengths for TV, cinema, and web on four different continents. Elvira now lives and works out of New York, where she also writes on various fiction projects. Elvira’s first feature documentary Songs for Alexis competed at IDFA in 2014 and screened at a long list of international festivals. Director Elvira Lind stops by to talk about an amazing artist, pushing against artistic boundaries and love.

For news and updates go to: bobbijene.oscilloscope.net

facebook.com/bobbijene

Opening October 6 in Los Angeles at the Laemmle Royal Theatre

Opening October  13 in Irvine at the Regal Westpark 8 Theatre

 

Download MP3 Podcast | Open Player in New Window

Winner of multiple awards at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival:

Best Documentary Feature,

Best Cinematography in a Documentary Feature

Best Editing in a Documentary Feature

“A treatise on art, ambition, long-distance relationships and the struggles to find one’s own voice, the film unfolds with uncommon grace.”- Tim Grierson, SCREEN INTERNATIONAL

“While artistry and those who create lie at the heart of the film and the moments where the camera bares witness to beautifully choreographed creations, it is the tale of Bobbi herself and her brave transition from student to teacher that is the most profound.”- Ally Johnson, THE PLAYLIST

“Watching BOBBI JENE, one of the year’s best films, could prove to be a profoundly cathartic experience for audiences.”— Matt Fagerholm, ROGEREBERT.COM

“A bold dance doc that pulses with erotic energy and artistic spirit.”— Patrick Mullen, POV Magazine

The Pathological Optimist, Director Miranda Bailey

Who is the man behind the most highly controversial, intensely debated topics in modern medicine? In THE PATHOLOGICAL OPTIMIST, director Miranda Bailey brings us a character study of Dr. Andrew Wakefield, one of 13 co-authors of a notorious 1998 paper in the UK medical Journal The Lancet, but who became the very public face of what has come to be known as “The Anti-Vax Movement.” An expat from Britain who currently resides in Austin, Texas, Wakefield allowed Bailey and her team to follow him and his family for five years beginning in 2011 as he fought a defamation battle in the courts against the British Medical Journal and journalist Brian Deer. The results of that case – and the self-reflection, pronouncements, and observations of Wakefield, his legal team, wife, and his children – create a complex and incisive look at one of our era’s most fear-provoking and continuously provocative figures. THE PATHOLOGICAL OPTIMIST takes no sides, instead letting Wakefield and the battles he fought speak for themselves. Director Miranda Bailey joins us to talk about her riveting portrait of a man driven to prove his detractors wrong.

Director’s statement: “I gravitate towards provocative and discussion-making material for most of my films. When I began this journey in 2010, Andrew Wakefield was much less known in the United States than he is now. But those who did know him seemed to have very strong feelings either for or against him. I was curious as to who he was and how he could stand up to such rejection from his peers and such scrutiny in the media regarding his part in the MMR Scandal. As the style of my film evolved, I decided it was not my place to defend Andrew Wakefield, nor was it to condemn him. My interest lies in observance. I asked questions and observed. It is up to the audience to decide what they see. ”

For news and updates got to: The Pathological Optimistfilm.com

facebook.com/ThePathologicalOptimist

 

Download MP3 Podcast | Open Player in New Window

October 6 & 7

The Laemmle Monica Film Center – After the 7:20 pm showings with director Miranda Bailey & Dr. Andrew Wakefield

October 8 –The Laemmle Monica Film Center

After the 2:20 pm showing with director Miranda Bailey & Dr. Andrew Wakefield

“Regardless of where you stand on the vaccination issue, it’s possible to relish Miranda Bailey’s highly informative, anger-arousing film, and to feel it’s promoting your own views.” – Lisa Jo Sagolia. Film Journal International

“The controversy over vaccinations will rage on and this cinematic portrait will merely be a footnote. But it proves a compelling one, however you may feel about the burning issue.” – Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter

Cadillac Tramps: Life on the Edge, Director Jamie Sims Coakley

The 1990’s were the “Golden Age” of the Orange County California music scene. Bands like The Offspring, No Doubt, Sugar Ray and Social Distortion where blowing up the mainstream and selling millions of records around the world.  Meanwhile, the undisputed kings of the O.C. scene, The Cadillac Tramps, were falling apart.  Infighting, addiction, frustration and dysfunction would tear the band apart at the peak of their success, but their bond would prove too strong to remain broken for long. THE CADILLAC TRAMPS: LIFE ON THE EDGE  is a humble, honest and entertaining look at five young men who found each other in sobriety, created a lasting musical legacy that influenced indie rock’s biggest bands, and overcame the past to support lead singer Michael “Gabby” Gaborno as he fights for his life from the ravages of Hep-C. First time filmmaker, Jamie Sims Coakley, expertly mixes a colorful combination of archival footage, insightful artist interviews and intimate vérité footage together into an arresting, heartwarming and cautionary tale of brotherhood, reflection and the power of music to heal and unite us. Director Jamie Sims Coakley joins us  to talk about the music, the what ifs, and the bond that has been their musical journey.

For news and updates go to: cadillactrampsdocumentary.com

facebook.com/cadillactramps

 

Download MP3 Podcast | Open Player in New Window

Tuesday, October 10th 2017 – 7:30pm

Official Premiere with Q&A with Director Jamie Sims Coakley and members of The Cadillac Tramps.

Special Memorabilia Give-Aways!

The Downtown Independent Theater, Los Angeles California 

Click here for limited tickets:

Limit Run @ Downtown Independent, DTLA 

October 11th – October 16th – Various Times

Enjoy the story of The Cadillac Tramps on the big screen! 

The Downtown Independent Theater, Los Angeles California

Click Here for tickets:

Soy Nero, Director Rafi Pitts

Nero (Johnny Ortiz) is sent back to Mexico after failing to cross the Tijuana border. Under  cover of Fourth of July fireworks, Nero makes his second attempt across a concrete trench spanning an interstate highway to the promise land. He hitches a ride with Seymour (Michael Harney), a paranoid pistol-toting veteran traveling with his daughter. Soon after, Nero runs away at a gas station when the local  police question Seymour. Nero makes his way through East Los Angeles, looking for his brother, Jesus (Ian Casselberry), and lands in the plush suburbs of Beverly Hills. Jesus pretends to be a car mechanic living in a gauche Beverly Hills mansion to impress his younger brother, but the ruse won’t last forever. The young Maldonado is now half way around the world fighting for the United States Army to obtain his citizenship. Nero is manning an outpost in the middle of nowhere with his fellow soldiers and commanding officer (Rory Cochrane). The group fights back a hostile ambush after gunning down a car that failed to acknowledge the checkpoint. Nero must survive the unforgiving Middle East desert, and face the harsh reality of being a green card soldier for the United States Army. Rafi Pitts’ films have attained acclaim and awards around the globe. Pitts’ first feature, The Fifth Season (1997), premiered in the Venice Film Festival. His second, Sanam (2000)  was hailed by French critics and compared to The 400 Blows (1959). In 2003, Pitts presented his controversial feature documentary, Cinéma, de notre temps: Abel Ferrara: Not  Guilty (2003) in the Official Selection of the Locarno Film Festival. It’s Winter (2006)  premiered in the Berlin Competition, and one year later, the Seattle International Film Festival honored Pitts with the Emerging Masters Award for his work. Director Rafi Pitts joins us to talk about his gripping tale of people in search of place, security and a new life.

For news and updates go to: soynero.com

 

Download MP3 Podcast | Open Player in New Window

“…strong and gripping, with darkly absurd overtones of Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket” -The Hollywood Reporter

“…Pitts’ pristinely composed sixth feature is thoughtfully marked by the Iranian-born filmmaker’s own experience…” -Variety

“…the imagery here is instantly indelible…” -Indie Wire

“… This ravishingly shot film is thematically resonant…” – Screen Daily